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Home > Twelve leverage points

Meadows worked in system analysis and proposed a scale of places to intervene in a system. To the degree that the observer is within the system, or "part of it", awareness and manipulation of these levers is an aspect of self-organization.

When done collaboratively, it can lead to collective intelligence. Her observations are often cited in energy economics, green economics and human development theory.

She started with the observation that there are levers, or places within a complex system (such as a firm, a city, an economy, a living being, an ecosystem, an ecoregion) where a "small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything" (compare: constraint in the sense of theory of constraints).

She claimed we not only need to realize the existence of these shifts (or leverage points) but also to know where they are and how to use them. According to her, most people know where these points are instinctually, but tend to adjust them in the wrong direction. The understanding of these leverage points would be powerful information to solve major global problems such as unemployment, hunger, economic stagnation , pollutionLachine Canal, in Montreal, is badly polluted Pollution is the release of harmful environmental contaminants, or the substances so released. Generally the process needs to result from human activity to be regarded as pollution. Even relatively benign prod, resources depletion, and conservation issues.

After Donella Meadows developed an initial nine points list of places to intervene during a meeting, she detailed a twelve leverage points list with further explanation and examples, for systems in general.

She describes a system as being in a certain state, and containing a stockSee stock (disambiguation) for other meanings of the term stock A stock also referred to as a share is commonly a share of ownership in a joint stock company. The owners and financial backers of a company may desire additional capital to invest in new pro, with inflows (amounts coming into the system) and outflows (amounts going out of the system). At a given time, the system is in a certain perceived state. There may also be a goalThere is more than one usage of the word goal . You will find them at: goal (management) The Goal, book by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in the sense of Celtic mythology see Goal mac Morn goal (sport). for the system to be in a certain state. The difference between the current state and the goal is the discrepancy.

For example, one might consider a lakeA lake is a large body of water, usually fresh water, surrounded by land. Large lakes are sometimes referred to as "inland seas" and small seas are sometimes referred to as lakes. For examples (of saline lakes): the Great Salt Lake, but the Dead Sea. or reservoir, which contains a certain amount of water. The inflows are the amount of water coming from rivers, rainfall, drainage from nearby soils, and waste water from a local industrial plant. The outflows might be the amount of water used up for irrigation of nearby cornfield, water taken by that local plant to operate as well as the local camping site, water evaporating in the atmosphere, and trickling surplus water when the reservoir is full.

Local inhabitants complain about the water level getting low, pollution getting higher, and the potential effect of hot water release in the lake on life (in particular, the fish).

This is the difference between the perceived state (pollution or low water level) and the goal (a non-polluted lake).

1 Twelve leverage points to intervene in a system (in increasing order of effectiveness)

1.1 12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards)

Parameters are points of lowest leverage effects. Though they are the most clearly perceived among all leverages, they have little effect long term; they do not usually change behaviors. A widely changing system will not be made stable by a change of parameter, nor will a stagnant one dramatically change.

For example, climate parameters may not be changed easily (the amount of rain, the evapotranspiration rate, the temperature of the water), but they are the ones people think of first (they remember that in their youth, it was certainly raining more). These parameters are indeed very important. But even if changed (improvement of upper river stream to canalize incoming water), they will not change behavior much (the debit will probably not dramatically increase).

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Topics: Twelve Leverage Points System Water Lake Change Loop Feedback...

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Donella MeadowsDonella "Dana" Meadows ( March 13, 1941 Elgin, Illinois, USA February 20, 2001, New Hampshire) was a pioneering environmental scientist, a teacher and writer. She was the lead author of Limits to Growth and proposed the twelve leverage points to intervene